San Antonio, Texas - San Jose State concluded a three-game Western Athletic Conference series at UTSA with a 14-8 loss at Roadrunner Field on Saturday.
The Spartans (9-19, 3-3 WAC) put together eight runs on 14 hits, and got big home runs from Matt Carroll (2) and Sheldon Daquioag (1). However, UTSA (16-12, 2-4 WAC) scored four runs in three different innings with the help of three Spartan errors to put the game out of reach.
"Errors early on cost us the game," said Spartans' head coach Dave Nakama. "If we played better defensively then we could have won this game."
Only four of UTSA's 14 runs were earned. Six UTSA hitters finished the game with multiple hits, and four with multiple RBI. The roadrunners rallied for four runs in the fourth, sixth and eighth innings.
Andre Mercurio, Daquioag and Jacob Valdez all hit doubles in the first inning to give the Spartans a 2-0 lead. SJSU scored in the first frame of every game in the series totaling seven first-inning runs.
UTSA scored six unanswered, and took a 6-2 lead after five complete. Carroll's second homer of the season over the left-center field wall made it a 6-3 game in the sixth. But the Roadrunners answered with four runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning, mounting a 10-3 lead.
Daquioag's 2-run shot in the seventh together with Dane Lund's bases loaded hit-by-pitch cut UTSA's lead to 10-5. But SJSU's hopes were slashed with the Roadrunners' four unearned runs in the eighth after shortstop Ricky Acosta's third error of the game.
Daquioag finished the game 3-for-6 with three RBI and two runs. Mercurio also had three hits in the game with a run and an RBI. Carroll finished series 5-for-14 with a home run and nine RBI.
Johnny Melero falls to 0-3 taking the loss for SJSU while Brock Hartson moves to 3-3 with the win for UTSA.
San Jose State is back in action next week on Wednesday April 3 with a nonconference road game at Saint Mary's college before returning home to face Louisiana Tech in a three-game WAC weekend series.